Pope Leo approves steps in canonization process for several causes including Spanish martyrs

Pope Leo XIV has approved the advancement of the canonization causes for several holy men and women, including 49 Spaniards who were martyred in 1936, several religious sisters, and two lay persons. 

According to an April 27 press release from the Holy See Press Office, during an audience with  the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Pope Leo authorized the dicastery to promulgate the decrees regarding these men and women. 

One such decree regards the martyrdom of the Servants of God Estanislao Ortega García (born Lorenzo) and his 48 companions, who were professed religious brothers, and of diocesean priest Father Manuel Berenguer Clusellas. According to the release, these faithful were martyred between July and November of 1936 in numerous areas of Catalonia, Spain. 

The release states that another decree is regarding the offer of life of the Servant of God Pedro Manuel Salado Alba, a lay person and member of the House of Nazareth Association who was born in 1968. According to the archdiocese of Madrid, Spain, he was sent to serve on mission in Ecuador and in 2012 died from exhaustion after rescuing seven children from drowning in the sea in Esmeraldas, Ecuador. 

The dicastery is also advancing the cause of canonization for Servant of God Maria Eletta of Jesus, born in Italy in 1605. She was a professed religious sister of the Discalced Carmelites who founded a monastery in Prague at the instruction of her religious superior. According to the Discalced Carmelites website, she died in 1663 in Prague, and her body remains incorrupt. 

The dicastery also is promulgating a decree related to the heroic virtues of Servant of God Maria Raffaella De Giovanni, who was born in Italy in 1870 and died in 1933. She founded the Third Order of Minims of Saint Francis of Paula. 

Finally, the cause of canonization is also advancing for Servant of God Mary Teresa of the Most Holy Trinity, born in 1897 in the Netherlands. She entered the religious Congregation of the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus and served as a missionary in the U.S. However, soon after her arrival she contracted a kidney disease. 

According to the St. Louis, Missouri–based St. Agnes Home, “She suffered for five years in the convent in St. Charles, Missouri, with indescribable patience and a smile on her lips. She wanted to serve God in the Order, working in silent union with Him. When work was no longer possible, she bore her pain silently, hidden from the world.”

The Home states that she died in 1926 in St. Louis, and shortly after her death, “many healings and answered prayers were attributed to her intercession.”